As the red lights went off to start the Korean GP, Sebastian Vettel, along with the rest of the 22 car grid, funneled cleanly into turn 1 of the Yeongam circuit.
Vettel maintained his lead, but right behind him, trouble ensued. Going into turn 3, cars were four abreast and with a right hander coming up. Felipe Massa overshot his braking point and ended up spinning and nearly taking out his team mate (flashback to Massa’s statement a few days ago that he will not help Fernando in his World Driver’s Championship challenge). Fernando had to evade the spinning Ferrari and managed to take the run off area and continue with the race, behind Hulkenberg in his Sauber.
Romain Grosjean in his Lotus was a surprise in second place, ahead of the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who was struggling out of the corners. Employing a similar strategy to his Singapore GP, Vettel just kept his foot down and managed a 2.6 second lead over Grosjean by lap 3.
Jenson Button had to pit due to a damage to his front wing when he tapped Alonso’s rear during the Massa pirouette.
Drivers took advantage of the two DRS detection zones (drag reduction system). Kimi Raikkonen was able to jump Alonso on lap 9, while Grosjean was able to get past Daniel Ricciardo on lap 14.
After the first round of pit stops, things settled down. Everyone, it seemed, were getting the maximum from the Pirelli medium compounds.
By the 20th lap, most of the front runners were having concerns about graining of their front right tires. Even the current world champ was advised over the radio to be careful in overtaking backmarkers.
As Hamilton was struggling with grip, Rosberg took advantage to get past his team mate. Out of turn 2, Nico shot past Hamilton. Unfortunately, his front wing had other ideas. The wing gave way and was being dragged by Nico around the circuit with sparks flying everywhere. Rosberg had to come in for a 22-second pit stop to replace the nose cone. This incident ruined his race.
Sergio Perez in his McLaren was quietly going about his business when a huge lock up at turn 1 caused a delamination of his front right tire. This signaled the deployment of the safety car.
Things went from bad to worse for Webber, who had to pit another time due to a puncture. After rejoining, he was instructed over the radio to finish the race on his super soft tires. Puzzled, Mark quickly asked, why did they put options? The reply from the pit wall came back: “We didn’t have any more primes, mate.”
As the safety car came in, Sebastian held up the grid and then quickly floored it to extend his lead over Grosjean and Kimi, and the rest of the field. Going into turn 3, Adrian Sutil spun and hit the sidepod of Webber’s car, damaging the oil radiator and setting fire to the car. An overzealous fire marshal had the bright idea to drive his truck onto the circuit bunching the field behind him. This was the first time that a Jeep led an F1 Grand Prix, and probably had the FIA shouting their lungs off inside the control booth.
After the fire was extinguished, the race resumed with Sebastian still leading. Hamilton and Alonso were locked in a battle for 5th behind the Sauber of Hulkenberg. On lap 45, Lewis made a lunge at Hulkenburg but the Sauber was pretty wide. With the available grip, Hulkenberg just sped off, leaving Lewis to settle for 5th.
With 4 laps to go Sebastian was still lapping faster than anybody else. Over the radio, an order to take care and make sure to finish the race was given to the German.
Vettel took his 8th win of the season, with Raikkonen taking 2nd and Grosjean coming in 3rd. Hulkenberg had his best race of 2013, finishing in 4th ahead of Lewis and Fernando, who came in 5th and 6th respectively.
The 4th drivers championship trophy is now within reach of the 26 year old. All he needs to do is score 23 points more than Fernando in Japan and he will be crowned the 2013 F1 drivers champion. Sebastian’s win means he now has 272 points in the Drivers’ Championship, 77 points clear of Alonso in second place. Raikkonen is third with 167, with Hamilton fourth on 161. Mark Webber is fifth with 130.
In the Constructors’ Championship, Red Bull is on top with 402 points. Ferrari are second with 284, Mercedes are one point back and Lotus are in fourth place with 239.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
